- Makhadzi snubbed Maun Summer Festival to focus on her one-woman show
- Maun Carnival organizers fail to bring Mafikizolo due to logistical challenges
The two Maun major events, the Maun Summer Festival and Maun Carnival that many looked forward to this past Independence Holidays turned out to be a big disappointment as their respective South African headline artists, Makhadzi and Mafikizolo snubbed them.
The festivities that were anticipated to be crowd pullers became failed to live up to expectation to the disappointment of revelers who had bought tickets for the events. Those who bought tickets months in advance were in much frustration due to the heartbreaking fact that they could not get any refund. The ticket price for the Maun Summer Festival that was held at the Maun Sports Complex ended up being reduced to P150 from P200 some hours before the event took place.
After the shows were highly publicised around Maun and on social media, a number of revelers bought tickets while others traveled from far just to be amongst the crowd to enjoy performance of the main acts at these events.
In a last minute announcement, the ‘MaGear’ hit maker confirmed on a Facebook live video that she will unfortunately not be showing up to the event as she will be preparing for her ‘One woman show’ in Vhenda, South Africa.
“I can’t make it to my Botswana shows today and tomorrow (29th and 30th of September), I want to focus on my show that will on the 1st of October, there is a lot that had to be done before the shows but unfortunately the Botswana borders close early. I am sorry, I really wanted to come,” Makhadzi announced.
Organisers of the event however also released a statement revealing that after the Makhadzi manager informed them that they want to come play in Maun and return to South Africa before 10 pm on that night, they sprang into action to ensure that happens.
“We secured a private jet for her but she still failed to come. We have tried all avenues to ensure they make it to Maun,” read the release which revealed that Makhadzi was fully paid.
As for Mafikizolo’s non-appearance at Fish Boro for the Maun Carnival Festival on September 30, organisers confirmed that there were logistical challenges to get the act to Maun.
“We had logistical challenges to get Mafikizolo to come and perform at the inaugural Maun Carnival. Whatever the case might have been, it is still our responsibility as the organisers to would have made sure that all billed artists performed as promised,” event coordinator Emang Mutapati revealed in an interview with The Weekender.
Mutapati has since apologised to their fans, sponsors and promised a bigger and better Maun Carnival next year.
Meanwhile other events besides the two went on as expected, among them DJ La Timmy’s one man show which was held at Luna Gardens which attracted large numbers.
